Team USA is out of the Davis Cup after 2-1 defeat to Australia in Malaga, Spain. At 1-1 in the tie, team captain Bob Bryan, one of the greatest men’s doubles players of all time, opted to switch Olympic men’s doubles silver medalists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek for top singles players Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul. Up against two top-10 doubles players in Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson, the Americans lost 4-6, 4-6.
Shelton, the world No. 21, had earlier come out on the wrong side of 30-point tiebreak against world No. 78 Thanasi Kokkinakis, falling to a 1-6, 6-4, 6-7(14) defeat. Taylor Fritz, America’s top-ranked singles player and this year’s U.S. Open finalist, beat Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to force the deciding rubber.
The selection change meant that rather than having two doubles specialists who play on the ATP tour together play that rubber, the USA fielded two singles players with relatively little doubles experience (though Shelton did play at college and still does semi-regularly). The decision was even more surprising because the USA team captain Bryan, in his first finals since taking the role full time last year, is a legendary doubles player. He won 23 Grand Slams across the men’s and mixed disciplines, the former with his brother, Bob.
Ram and Krajicek have not been in good form, losing four of their five matches since linking up in September but they are both Grand Slam champions and former world No. 1s. They’ve played 41 matches together in total since first linking up in 2015.
Paul, the world No. 12 in singles, did win a bronze medal in doubles at the Olympics with Fritz but has not played doubles since. He has only once played with Shelton.
The loss could bring back memories for Ram, who was not picked in the squad for the 2022 finals with then-captain Mardy Fish opting to take four players with five spots available. Team USA then went out at the quarterfinal stage to Italy, after losing the decisive doubles rubber. Paul and Fritz were the picks that day and received criticism on Twitter (formerly X) from Canadian doubles specialist Brayden Schnur, who said the decision had been made because of the American pair’s “egos.” Fritz and Paul both hit back and defended Fish’s selection.
Perhaps there was an element of trying to catch the Aussies off guard, but it was Paul who was broken in his first service game. Opponents Ebden and Thompson won the Australian Open, Olympics and U.S. Open men’s doubles competitions between them this year, and so the dynamic of the match was very much about two top singles players facing a pair of doubles experts — even if Thompson has relatively recently blossomed on the doubles court.
A singles player can take over a doubles match, like Jannik Sinner in last year’s Davis Cup or Andy Murray in the 2015 final, but the most pertinent recent example of it going the other way was Ram and Krajicek schooling Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz at the Olympics in July.
Early on, the Aussies made good use of their greater doubles nous, pinching that early break after Ebden had anticipated a crosscourt backhand from Paul and intercepted it with a clinical volley; in the second set, Ebden directed a tricky smash into the tramlines to break again. Ebden and Thompson faced just one break point throughout.
At the Laver Cup in September, Shelton spoke about how much he enjoys doubles — but when playing fellow singles players. “You play two doubles guys and no one hits over a return. They chip lob you every time. They serve and volley every point,” he said.
“And put away every volley. They are literally standing on the net.
“Then you play with singles guys, it’s a little different. They are roping the ball crosscourt, hitting the ball way cleaner from the baseline, but not moving as much at net, so you feel a little bit more comfortable returning.”
The defeat means 32-time Davis Cup champions the USA have not reached the semifinals since 2018. With an American team missing Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro exiting the Billie Jean King Cup finals at the first hurdle last week, Team USA leaves Malaga with a record of 0-2.
(Top photo: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
